Ginger Sawyer

Following two years of frustrations with our family’s fig tree and zero fig production, 2023 has finally brought figs to our table.

Northeast Texas fig tree owners recall the effect of Snomageddon 2021 — every above-ground limb of fig trees frozen into gray-brown skeletons. Eager to try to save our 25-year-old tree, we hacked and hauled away the corpse and awaited the spring rains. The summer brought more rain, new limbs, new leaves, and tiny green figs. But, by year’s end, not a fig had matured.

With the advent of 2022, my hopes were high. Maybe we will have a good crop of figs and plenty of preserves. It wasn’t to be! Any figlets that emerged in the spring stayed tiny or dropped from the limbs. Why? The drought.

Thus began my serious study of fig trees. Why is this tree that has had such predictable harvests for so many years now yielding nothing? Is there anything that I can do about it?

Looking back at the 2021 winter, it was unusually severe. All the books on fruit trees tell us that “Celeste” figs are “fairly” cold hardy, but we should protect our trees if temperatures are expected to drop below 15 or 20 degrees. Frankly, I don’t know how I could have covered or protected our 20-foot tree. Even if I could have, it likely wouldn’t have saved it from the extended low temperatures.

Considering 2022, however, there is likely something that I could have done to combat the drought: WATER! I should have paid as much attention to watering and saving my fig tree as I did to watering and saving my lawn and flower beds. Lesson learned!

And now, in 2023, I have figs, but a much smaller crop than in years past. The two previous years’ damage has taken its toll on the tree’s structure. Many of the limbs have died, even shoots produced this year. In addition to having fewer figs available, I’ve had to try to chase away the pesky birds (particularly Robins) who seem to get up earlier and hungrier than I every morning.

While there has been more rain than in 2022, my tree now gets watered along with the rest of my yard. I’ve made shiny aluminum “mirrors” that hang from branches to scare away the birds. I pick the fruit first thing every morning. I pick it somewhat less ripe than I have in past years, and I let it ripen on my kitchen cabinet. (I’ve read that some varieties of figs do not ripen after they are picked, but my Celestes do if they are yellowing and pliable when I pick them). I usually can’t pick more than eight to 10 figs each day…so how do I collect enough to make preserves? I freeze them at day’s end. When my gallon freezer bucket is full, it’s time to start canning.

Since I’m very concerned about the future of my tree and its long-term health, my next step will be to root some of the smaller, healthy branches. Research tells me that it might be best to wait until winter when the tree is dormant to take cuttings, but I may try my luck sooner since I’m eager to get some “babies” growing on my patio. I’ll take three or four small branches that haven’t yet hardened off and that have at least four buds and cut the bottom ends at a 45-degree angle. Then each branch will go into a small pot of mulch or soil so that two of the buds are beneath the surface. After watering them well, I’ll just wait and pray!

Meantime, I’ll enjoy my 2023 harvest by sharing my preserves with my family and friends.